Memoriam

There's a word you don't want
heard in Liverpool
"Surge" is the term
like Gainsburg once sang
or Alan once decreed
when he arrived in 1965
or Leone visualised
Once Upon a Time
in America
and Seymour Street
made our suits,
it reared its head in Athens
ancient as the eye of Sophocles
"Lucky everyone still in one piece"
texts Terry O'Neill.
Christened by the river
a tide that runs within us
we don't speak of it here
nor let others use against us
but let the Blessed
rest in peace
and resist its urge
to seduce us,
don't let us walk alone.